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READ Bhutan

READ Bhutan

Program Development Intern

Duration: Mid May to Mid August (12 weeks/as long as possible)

Location: Thimpu, Bhutan

READ partners with communities in rural Asia to create vibrant places to live and thrive. Its model focuses on Community Library and Resource Centers as a vehicle for social and economic transformation. READ began working in Bhutan in 2008 and its partnerships with rural communities are promoting: Early Childhood Development; Information Communications Technology; Literacy; Environmental Sustainability; Neo-literate education; Women's Empowerment.

The Program Development Intern will help READ Bhutan spearhead and refine reading and writing programs in its five Community Library and Resource Centers, with a particular emphasis on teaching children under the age of 15.

The internship will start with pre-trip research into ESOL reading and writing curriculums and best practices. The intern will be expected to do online research and conduct brief interviews with experts at Mt. Holyoke on best practices in teaching reading and writing to youth. Ideally, the intern will have the opportunity to leverage these resources throughout the project while in Bhutan.

Once in country, the intern will visit READ Centers to assess the community’s needs for reading and writing and the current informal curriculum’s effectiveness. The intern will evaluate and document curriculum demand, efficacy, resource requirements, delivery models, etc. The intern will research best practices, existing curriculums, and other cost effective options for increasing participation in literacy programs and make recommendations to READ Bhutan on how to improve our program’s effectiveness.

The main deliverable for the project will be to recommend the adoption of an existing curriculum or to refine our existing informal curriculum with best practices from the field.

As a final project, the intern will produce a capstone presentation, including videos and/or photos, reflecting the impact of READ’s literacy work and the main recommendations of the internship. This final project will contribute to READ’s knowledge bank and enable institutional learning and further program development. In addition, the intern will be expected to keep a blog of their experience with READ Bhutan, some of which may be shared on our website or through other media.

This is an outstanding opportunity for an advanced student with academic depth and/or prior experience in English, education (especially ESOL), development studies, and related fields. The student should be well equipped to handle cross-cultural communications, and preferably has strong interest or experience in South Asia.